The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Washington, D.C., has charged marketers of two dietary supplements with claiming, falsely and without substantiation, that their products can cause weight loss and reduce the risk of, or prevent, serious health conditions. According to the FTC’s complaint, California-based marketers Window Rock Enterprises, Inc. and Infinity Advertising, Inc., their principals, Stephen Cheng and Gregory Cynaumon, and business partner and product formulator Shawn Talbott violated the FTC Act by making deceptive efficacy claims for CortiSlim and CortiStress. In addition, the complaint alleges that the defendants violated the FTC Act by using a deceptive format in at least two of their infomercials to suggest falsely that the infomercials were independent television programs, rather than paid commercial advertising. The complaint seeks permanent injunctive relief, including redress for consumers who purchased the products. Presently FTC, Window Rock and Infinity are working together to resolve the issues outlined in the complaint. Under the agreement, CortiSlim advertising cannot make any of the claims alleged in the FTC’s complaint. In addition, the defendants have agreed to limit their future advertising to claims that are supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence and agree not to misrepresent that their products are supported by scientific studies. Finally, the defendants agreed not to use any advertisement that misrepresents itself as something other than a paid advertisement, and they also agreed to include appropriate “paid advertisement” disclaimers in their advertising. This development follows regulatory action undertaken by FDA against the companies on August 19th, stating that the dietary supplement CortiSlim was misbranded and violated the provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.